/m/dugout

Reader Comments and Retorts

Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.

Birthday Team is oozing with two-way players and guys who can't really hit. Greg Brock is the all-time leader in hits among June 14 birthdays, which I think says all you need to know. Maybe Edgar Gonzalez and his brother can trick people by switching places, thereby giving June 14 a legit offensive threat.

Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer hit a fly ball that went so far, it sailed over the wall in the outfield. Since the ball was out of play, the umpire let Hosmer touch all the bases and score a run. Is that typically the rule? Or is that because it was in Tampa with their weird stadium rules? I have not seen this play happen much at all with the Royals, so I was unsure what the ruling should be.

Jesse Chavez's 0.879 WPA last night was the highest of any relief appearance in MLB since Mike Magnante in 1996 and the highest for the A's since Rollie Fingers in 1975. Adam Warren put up the third best WPA relief appearance this year.

The top A's relief appearance of all-time (by WPA) was by Joe Berry against the Tigers in 1945. Berry relieved starter Russ Christopher in the 14th inning of a 1-1 game and proceeded to hold the Tigers scoreless for the next 11 innings until the game was called a tie after 24 innings--the longest game in AL history. Tigers starter Les Mueller wasn't pulled until there were two away in the 20th inning.

To top it off, they played a doubleheader the next day--though the second game was called after 6 innings. Tigers catcher Bob Swift caught all 39 innings those two days.

Though not a two-way guy, Newcombe might get some PH attempts as well (.271/.338/.367 on his career; 85 OPS+).

Newcombe finished his career as a position player, only in Japan, not America. He signed with the Chunichi Dragons in 1962, but pitched only one game for them. (I'm assuming an arm injury of some type). So he became a first baseman, hitting .262/.316/.473 in 301 PA. He had 23 doubles and 12 home runs; those 12 home runs ranked third on the team. He outhit Larry Doby, who was also signed by Chunichi that season - .225/.302/.396 with 10 HR in 268 PA.

Scheduling note first: I'll be out of town from tomorrow morning through Tuesday, so it's unlikely I'll have a chance to post any GotDs during that time. I also probably will not be up to doing the full 8 posts on Tuesday or 10 on Wednesday, so it'll probably just be a couple of the best games from the 5-day period of June 14-18 when I get back.

Since I have to get ready to leave tonight, I'm going to be brief here... at least to whatever extent this game will let me.

Hiroki Kuroda and Jarrod Parker had a very nice pitcher's duel, and yet were clearly outpitched by their bullpens. Parker allowed a Brett Gardner double and a Robinson Cano 2-run homer in the first. After Kuroda worked two perfect innings, Oakland countered in the third when Chris Young walked, Eric Sogard singled, the runners pulled off a double steal, and Derek Norris grounded out to score Young. Sogard was then caught stealing third, but John Jaso walked and Seth Smith doubled to score him with the tying run.

The game would be scoreless for the next fourteen innings - but that of course does not mean that nothing was happening. The teams managed a few scattered hits against the starters, with Cano's sixth-inning double making him the only runner to reach scoring position before the bullpens took over in the ninth. Grant Balfour worked a 1-2-3 top of the inning, but David Robertson did not match him, giving up singles to Jaso and Jed Lowrie that put runners at the corners with one out. He recovered quickly, however, striking out Josh Donaldson and Brandon Moss to send the game to extras.

Ichiro singled against Ryan Cook with two outs in the tenth; he went on to steal second, but did not score. Still, he was the first Yankee to reach base since the sixth. Maybe his teammates had needed to be reminded how it was done, because the New York bats heated up for the next few innings. Jerry Blevins allowed a bunt hit to Gardner to start the eleventh, with Gardner reaching second on Blevins's throwing error. A sac bunt, an intentional walk to Cano, and a Mark Teixeira HBP loaded the bases with one out before Travis Hafner and Kevin Youkilis struck out. Adam Warren came in for the bottom of the eleventh and was spotless, and the Yanks mounted another brief threat in the twelfth when Chris Stewart made it to second with two outs on a single+error. Pat Neshek recovered to strand him there, but after another perfect frame from Warren, Cano led off the thirteenth with a double. Hideki Okajima then intentionally walked Teixeira, and Okajima and Jesse Chavez combined to retire the next three Yankee hitters.

Josh Reddick led off the bottom of the thirteenth with a single; he didn't advance, let alone score, but he at least ended a lengthy string of Oakland outs. In the fourteenth, Chavez gave up a single to Ichiro and walked Gardner, then went to a 3-1 count on Cano with two outs; the A's elected to intentionally walk the slugger and take their chances with Texieira, who popped to short to leave the bases loaded. Warren then worked a 1-2-3 fourteenth, and Chavez did the same in the fifteenth.

Moss singled with one out in the bottom of the fifteenth and took second on a wild pitch. Reddick walked behind him, and the A's brought in pinch hitter Coco Crisp. Crisp singled to left, and Moss came around third toward home, but Vernon Wells launched a perfect throw to catch him at the plate for the second out, and Adam Rosales then struck out to leave the winning run at third.

Chavez was spotless again in the sixteenth, while a Smith single and a Lowrie walk put the winning run in scoring position again for the A's before Nate Freiman lined out to leave it there. Chavez made it 10 straight Yanks set down in the 17th; New York finally pulled Warren in the bottom of the inning, but Oakland did no better against Preston Claiborne, who allowed only a Crisp single. After Chavez's fourth perfect frame in a row in the eighteenth, Claiborne gave up a one-out single to Jaso and was replaced by Mariano Rivera, who promptly allowed a single to Smith that put runners on the corners, intentionally walked Lowrie to load the bases, and then gave up a game-winning single to Freiman.

There were 14 total pitchers used in this game, and Mariano Rivera was the least effective of the bunch. How often does THAT happen?

Also, as already noted upthread, Jesse Chavez was spectacular, and Adam Warren was just about as good.

Game of the day (1977): Sox 5, Sox 4 (10). Gotta keep up the suspense every once in a while, right?

Francisco Barrios for the White Sox, Ferguson Jenkins for the Red ones; if that sounds like a giant mismatch to you, well, you're more or less right. Jenkins allowed a solo homer to Jorge Orta in the first to open the scoring, but his teammates came back on doubles by Rick Burleson and Fred Lynn and a single by Jim Rice that gave them a 2-1 lead. Chicago loaded the bases in the second on a Chet Lemon walk and singles by Eric Soderholm and Kevin Bell, but Jenkins escaped; that proved to be the last escape needed through four innings, as only one runner reached base over that span.

Jenkins did not escape the top of the fifth, however. He once again loaded the bases with White Sox, this time on singles by Alan Bannister, Orta, and Richie Zisk; Oscar Gamble tied the game with a sac fly, and Jenkins was pulled for Bob Stanley, who ended the inning quickly. Barrios, meanwhile, started to get into a bit more trouble, as Bernie Carbo singled in the fifth. In the sixth, he allowed three hits, including a double, but Lynn was thrown out at third trying to stretch that double, so Rice and Carlton Fisk's subsequent singles did no lasting damage.

Stanley had allowed two hits in the sixth, but kept both runners from scoring. In the seventh, he only allowed one hit, but it came after a walk to Orta and was itself a home run by Zisk, which put the White Sox ahead 4-2. Barrios was perfect in the seventh; in the eighth, Boston's Mike Paxton walked Soderholm and gave up a single to Jim Essian before recovering to strand both of them. The bottom of the inning started with a Burleson single; Lynn popped out, but Rice then tripled, putting the tying run at third. Dave Hamilton relieved Barrios, and Carl Yastrzemski greeted him with a game-tying sac fly.

Bill Campbell was perfect in the top of the ninth, while Larry Anderson worked around an error in the bottom of the inning. Campbell was spotless again in the tenth; Anderson was anything but. Burleson led off with a walk. Rick Miller then bunted, with both runners reaching safely on the fielder's ill-fated choice. A wild pitch moved the runners to second and third, which meant an intentional walk to Rice (TEH FEAR makes an appearance). Yaz fouled out, but Fisk singled, driving in the winning run.

Old and mediocre jokes aside, this is a very nice game for Rice - 3/4, 2 RBI and a run, plus an intentional walk with a Hall of Famer on deck.